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There was international outcry from scientists last night after an Italian
judge sentenced seismologists to six years’ jail for manslaughter for
misleading the public about the risk of an earthquake in the city of
L’Aquila.

Scientists insisted that the experts could not have predicted the 6.3
magnitude tremor that killed 309 people in 2009. An open letter from 5,000
scientists to the President of Italy denounced the trial.

The seismologists were charged not with failing to predict the earthquake but
for wrongly reassuring the public about the risk. Witnesses told the court
that family members had died because after the

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Scientists found guilty

October 23 2012

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L'Aquila after the quake: it lies on top of a fault line

October 23 2012 Maurizio Degl’Innocenti/EPA

L'Aquila after the quake: it lies on top of a fault line

October 23 2012 Maurizio Degl’Innocenti/EPA

Bernardo De Bernardinis: found guilty of manslaughter

October 23 2012 AFP/Getty

Mauro Dolce: director at the Civil Protection Department, also found guilty

October 23 2012 AFP/Getty

The centre of L'Aquila is still deserted, three years after the disaster

October 23 2012 Times photographer, Chris Harris

Victims of the tragedy gave evidence in the trial

October 23 2012 Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images

The L'Aquila quake killed 309 people in 2009

October 23 2012 Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters

The scientists re-assured the locals, but six days later the quake struck